Archive
I’m in love with Caketopia
Today’s must-share experience is all about cake.
Cake is one of my favourite subjects. I majored in cake at law school and it did me heaps good. A dear buddy once made me a birthday cake and couldn’t get the glass out of the middle. We wore silly hats in the uni refectory, which went with the well-meant but equally inedible torte della microwave. Lucky she’s really, really good at law, is all I can say. (M, maybe we’ll order from this site next time?)
Take a look at the Caketopia blogspot and tell me that you’re not in love too.
Two examples…
(With thanks, Reader A.)
Road test: BEERBIRD DIY BBQ Chook
Dear Readers,
Today, I’m introducing a new correspondent (I can’t do all the fun stuff alone) to report to us on new things in the world of beer & barbecues.
Congratulations Lou! Lou is the kind of girl who turns up to a Tupperware party with an esky on wheels, full of beer – it sure made the balloon popping game at the last one fun.
Below, you’ll find an accurate and contemporaneous record of her first attempt at making a chook with the BEERBIRD device. I gave it a few days before posting, to ensure she and her family survived.
Who thinks of these things?
From the backyard of Lou: BBQ & Beer Correspondent
Alright…here goes!!! The fridge is stocked, the BBQ is cleaned, summer is here and one bird is going to cook! Ingredients are ready…chook, beer and spices. Preparation: Ensure adequate stock of favourite beer, open can and quench thirst (repeat as required) (DONE). Set aside spices (DONE). Open another can and take several gulps (about to commence this stage…stay tuned…so far tasks have been extremely difficult…hoping it gets easier)…
…now where was I up to…how many cans is that??? oh yeah…take several gulps (make them small gulps to that the can is still just over two thirds full)-(MOST DIFFICULT STAGE YET – WHEN TO STOP?? Mark says can is only half full…ok…get another can and redo that step…no worries)…rub spice mixture over bird…plunk bird over can…transfer to BEERBIRD grill and place in centre of covered BBQ…once lid to BBQ is closed, crack open another frostie, sit back and wait (HAD THOUGHT HARDEST PART WAS DONE BUT THIS DRINKING BEER AND WAITING IS TOUGH!!).
Beautiful aroma is wafting around the place one and a half hours later. Recipe says to leave in for one and three quarter hours however opened the lid to put the vegies in so will leave for a total of two and a quarter hours maybe…we’ll see how it goes.
Chook out…looks and smells great…fourteen year old son comments…that chook smells good! Vegies not cooked yet so chook on warmer in oven til vegies done…should have put vegies in earlier…anyway…all can’t go perfectly first time round…
Total YUM!
Ok, the verdict is…chook tastes pretty fantastic. Looks great when carving, still juicy and the flavours are just YUM. Can’t recall tasting a better chook in recent times. Asked fourteen year old male how the chook was after finished…”Heaps Hectic”…I think that is good…he went back for two more servings. Now for some finer details; the information in the recipe book was spot on, the beer can still had the same amount of liquid in after cooking as stated and the timing was right. After doing this whole beer process, there was a sentence down the very bottom which says BEERBIRD is also delicious when soft drink substitutes are used such as; cola, carbonated fruit juice and ginger beer. Now if I had known that I wouldn’t have had to drink so much beer to cook a chook…oh well…the things one does. I do think however I will stick with the process I used today as I believe in tried and tested and why change something that is already proven to be perfect.
The only thing we may have added that BEERBIRD doesn’t mention is that we use some Jack Daniels smoking chips in the BBQ as well.
As if it couldn't get any better ... (It's for the BBQ).
We have done a chook on a rotisserie with these chips on the BBQ before and as nice as that chook was, BEERBIRD is easier to do, easier to clean, tasted better and more juicy. There are a few different flavours in the recipe book. We used the BBQ Beer Bird spice recipe for this one but will be keen to try the others in the future. We are thinking of getting another BEERBIRD so we can have two chooks for when we have visitors. Another interesting point on further reading is that if you don’t have a hooded BBQ, this can be done in the oven at 180C but since we have one, we will continue the aussie tradition of outdoor quality BBQ entertaining with a few amber refreshments on a gorgeous summer’s day or night.
Joke taken from the BEERBIRD recipe book – Q: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? A: Neither, The Rooster
FINAL VERDICT: BEERBIRD is heaps hectic. Go get one. Or, two. Beats Christmas turkey!
UPDATE: An email from Barry @ BEERBIRD:
Hi Theresa,
Just read the blog – brilliant, thank you!
Please pass our thanks on to Lou – I’m thrilled that she liked it so much. Please tell her that it also comes in a double version (for cooking two chickens.)
Best regards,
Barry Owen
QUESTION: Have you had any BEERBIRD or other BBQ tips or experiences you’d like to share?
LOL: Buffy v Edward Cullen
This week, I’m bringing the Friday funny forward a day, because you’ll want to watch this again tomorrow. This has been out for a while – apologies for not posting it sooner.
I’ll spare you the thesis, but the person who remixed this content is not only very, very funny, but also effective in showing up the dreadful messages in the Twilight franchise. Stalking is not cool. Having the personality of asparagus is also not cool. Comparing someone to heroin is … you get the idea. I’m sure Stephanie Meyer didn’t intend to include those messages, but they’re there. They don’t matter to people who are all grown-up and in good relationships, but they do matter a lot to more impressionable minds.
Craft: Halloween watermelon, Queensland-style!
In time for Halloween, Yours Truly reviewed the traditional pumpkin for its carving qualities.
To remind you of the pumpkin and its price:
Pumpkins, from $20!!!
Because Auntie and I like value for money as much as the next person, we’ve decided to share with you our secret for next year. Instead of fully participating in the overpriced pumpkin rort, we’re going to do it Queensland-style, using watermelons!
Auntie had a crack at it and produced this specimen. With practice, she’ll get it looking more mean …
Aussie watermelon beats American pumpkin!
Review: Life As We Know It (Heigl movie)
Yours Truly was recently treated to a birthday movie by the Ladies.
Admittedly, I enjoyed the movie, but couldn’t remember the name of it when asked. (Sign of age-related memory loss, or a movie in need of a more memorable title – I’m not sure.) All I could remember was that it was a movie with Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel and that they were made guardians of their mutual best friends’ baby, Sophie. And Heigl and Duhamel are easy to look at. And the baby was a good actor. Or, was that the other way around? Never mind.
It was a good brain-in-the-bucket, romantic comedy. It pressed all the right buttons, building tension, making the audience laugh and cry, although there were one or two EWWW moments (like when they had sex in the deceaseds’ bed). I would’ve preferred if the script-writers had found another way of bringing the leads together, without killing off the baby’s parents, because it did put strain on the viewers and stretch the credibility of the characters and story, just a tinsy bit.
Holly Berenson (Heigl) and Eric Messer (Duhamel) are introduced to viewers as victims of a set-up date which goes wrong: they are polar opposites and hate each other at first sight. They keep crossing paths, being on their friends’ wedding party, then becoming godparents to Sophie. A car accident kills Sophie’s parents and leaves her in the care of Holly and Eric.
From there, the story follows the structure of a typical romantic comedy plot and follows the trajectory of two single, self-absorbed people who suddenly become parents. There are a lot of poo and spew incidents which give good laughs, especially (methinks) for those of us who’ve experienced something similar.
Poo jokes don’t get old when they make you recall your own special baby poo incidents. One of my own involved Dear Husband offering to be helpful (WARNING WARNING WILL ROBINSON) and taking our first child for a nappy change. For his comfort, he turned the change table around. With nappy off, he gave the gassy one a bit of help, gently pressing knees up towards abdomen, only to spray green poo all over the curtains. So helpful. So, maybe part of the enjoyment of this movie involved reliving one’s own parenting dramas. No Sleeping? Check. No eating? Check. Parents going mental? Check. Cue: empathetic laughing.
In the middle of the movie, I did wonder whether I was having deja vu or another senior’s moment, when I was sure I was back in the Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin movie, “It’s Complicated”. Similarly, it involved the leading lady being wooed in her own patisserie in the middle of the night, letting go and learning to be loved while doing some manic baking. Then, the leading lady has not one eligible man after her, but two. Then they get stoned. Marijuana must be back in vogue.
Were there similarities, or was I 'in the wrong cinema'?
Does it matter that it follows the rom-com formula and that it borrows substantially from “It’s Complicated”? Not really. “Life As We Know It” delivers the happily ever after and that’s what the viewers are expecting.
(With special thanks to: Antonella, Tina, Donna, Jen, Deb, Helen, Leanne, Suzie.)
Craft: Halloween pumpkin & be safe message
Using the right pumpkin makes the job EASY!
Brisbanites frequenting supermarkets have started encountering big, overpriced, yellow pumpkins just lately. I took it upon myself to see what all the fuss was about.
In the name of craft and open-mindedness, I put aside my reservations about ‘celebrating’ Halloween, to see whether these pumpkins were anything special. To be honest, I’d wondered how hard it would be to carve one up, given the near brute force needed to cut up our typical Butternut pumpkin for dinner.
In short, it was as easy as falling off a log. Using the right kind of pumpkin makes all the difference. As you can see from the photos below, it’s a softer pumpkin which has a lot of ‘guts’ that’s easily scooped out by little kids. The cutting must be done by an adult (obviously, one would think). The supermarket instruction sheet sets out 8 steps, but really, there are only five, tops. To be clear, the hairy fingers in the photos are not my own. Yours Truly suffered a shoulder / neck injury while sleeping (how sad is that?) and couldn’t operate the knife without screaming like a banshee, so Dear Brother did the honours.
1. Carefully cut the top off using a knife (operated by a competent adult).
2. Scoop out the insides.
3. Draw a face with a permanent ink marker or mark the outline of a face with pins (eg. using a template).
4. Cut out face
5. Insert a tea light candle and light it.
Easy carve pumpkin
Instructions & template
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6
Carving up a pumpkin and having a bit of dress-up fun at home is one thing. But if you are taking kids out for trick or treating, do keep in mind the contradictory messages (Don’t take lollies from strangers, except on Halloween. Don’t be mean, unless the neighbours don’t give you sweets. Bullies are bad, except on Halloween.) which can set you up for trouble down the long and winding road of parenthood. While you might be going with them this year, there’ll come a time when they’ll think it lame that their parents tag along (and by that stage, they’ll be too big to say “No” to, with any sort of moral authority). And please don’t kid yourself that children in a group are safe. Sometimes, a group is the most dangerous place to be.
Keeping kids safe is hard work. In a perfect world, there would be no begging for lollies (as opposed to nuts in days gone by, in preparation for winter), but if it must be done, then perhaps consider door-knocking just your friends and family and by prior arrangement. Don’t freak out the elderly, or people who don’t understand or want to have Halloween thrust upon them. Realistically, anyone opening the door to strangers on Halloween is crazy, even if it’s a little kid standing at the screen door (who’s standing behind him?).
A bit of consideration goes a long way in not only keeping good neighbours, but in keeping EVERYBODY safe. Go look up some statistics about how many kids go missing on Halloween overseas. Ask your friendly police how many assaults happen and how many complaints they clock up. Fun should never be at the expense of others.
And this is the end of the government, anti-fun policy.
Have fun, responsibly. And regardless of your religious beliefs, think about the dearly departed on 1 November, which is what it’s all really about.
UPDATE: To avoid being gouged on the price of a Halloween pumpkin, try using a watermelon – it does work and you get to eat the insides. The Halloween pumpkin isn’t good eating. See my later post with photos of a Halloween watermelon, thanks to the Auntie-who-thinks-of-everything.
Craft: Roses made from leaves
To cater for my international readership and for the love of craft, I’m bringing on board ‘The Stig’ of craft, my new, northern hemisphere based Occasional Craft Correspondent…. (with thanks, E.P.):-
The Occasional Craft Correspondent
Am I crafty? Nope. I potter around. The words ‘you could sell those’ fill me with dread because the very thought of ever doing something crafty for sale means that I’d HAVE to do it and then it’d stop being fun. So, I potter around. Occasionally. Sometimes the bug bites and then I HAVE to make something and once I get a project into my head, I really DO play with it. Take these roses for example – it started with one and finished with 60! My husband already knows that this is the moment when he has to step away and let nature take its course. I find that this generally happens in autumn and winter – maybe because it starts to get cold and this means I’m inside more. Unfortunately, the bug generally bites at rather inopportune moments, which leads me to believe that this could be a form of seasonal procrastination (seasonal in that it’s centred around seasons, unfortunately not in the procrastination).
The problem is that I’m a bit unco. I’d like to be less unco. This, however, ensures that any crafty stuff I do has to be 1. easy 2. quick 3. effective.
I once saw these roses many years ago but it took me almost 10 years of living in a country with a real autumn and real autumn colours (at autumn, no less!) to get around to trying. It looked really hard, but really – it’s not! An evening in front of the telly is enough.
What you need:
4 or 5 fallen but not completely dry maple leaves – it’s better to have some smaller leaves for the inside and some bigger ones for the outside.
A piece of string/cotton
Some floral tape (I bought a roll off my local florist)
Instructions:
Take one smaller leaf and fold it back in half (with the stalk facing down). Roll the leaf quite tightly.
Take another leaf. Fold it back in half. Put the rolled leaf in the middle and just a bit down from the top edge. Fold it over from the left and the right. Hold tightly and repeat with the remaining leaves. You should have a rose-shaped thingy.
Tie it together tightly. You can also use thin elastic bands, but you need to be careful not to break the stalks.
Take the floral tape. It looks a bit like crepe paper and isn’t sticky. You need to moisten your fingers and when you place it on the leaves, you need to stretch it a little and wrap it around the stalks so that there’s an overlap. If it breaks, don’t worry about it, just overlap that bit and keep going. The important thing here is to keep your fingers moistened.
FAQ:
1. Can I use other types of leaves?
Yes, I guess so, but they need to be wide enough – and have a ‘square’ shape. Also, can’t be very green because they’ll crack. The florist I bought the floral tape from said that she’s seen people make roses by folding them long-ways along the vein. I haven’t tried this method though.
You don’t have to use big leaves. I found a sapling of a red maple and made the tiny little ‘buds’ in the photos.
2. If I don’t have floral tape, can I use anything else to wrap around the stalks?
Yes, you can. I’d probably use crepe paper tied down with some green cotton, or some green duct tape. The problem with this is that the floral tape is quite muted in colour and as the leaves dry, it doesn’t stand out and looks quite natural.
3. Do I have to use cotton or string to hold the leaves together?
No, you can use elastic bands but then need to be very thin not too small because you don’t want to break the stalks.
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6
Step 7
Step 8
Step 9
Step 10
Step 11
Step 12
Step 13
(UPDATE: N.B. the rose in Step 12 is not the same one as in Step 13 – i.e. Step 13 demonstrates what happens when the autumn colours take hold of their own accord – they change colour themselves.)
Step 14 - go crazy
Step 15 - how lovely is that?
Trend Alert: Goodbyn lunch boxes from USA, for kids & adults
The Auntie-Who-Thinks-of-Everything alerts Yours Truly to a new trend, that’s sure to work its way to the outer sleepy suburbs….
Personalise your Goodbyn with stickers
Here’s the inside with some bits tucked in for size demonstration purposes. It easily fits a regular sandwich, fruit, crackers & cheese and the rest. Check out the Goodbyn or Biome website for more.
Liquid tight compartments to keep foods separate
Love thy lunchbox - the Goodbyn
Inner city Brisbane schools are abuzz with the latest in cool kids’ lunch boxes. Word on the street is that kids are loving the Goodbyn lunch boxes from the USA, but which can be bought in Australia from Biome.
What’s to like, with just another pile of plastic, you wonder.
Well, consider:
* lead free, BPA free, pthalates free
* funky, personalised with 3 sheets of stickers
* LIQUID TIGHT seals between compartments to prevent merging of foods & smells
* great for the environment if it reduces one’s dependence on cling wrap, plastic bags & disposable drink containers
* comes with a freezable drinks container which keeps food cool & probably doesn’t require a cooler bag
* fully recyclable
* one lunch box, one lid – no losing separate little boxes with little lids and ice bricks and cooler bags (less to label)
* easy to open (for 5+) and easy to carry handle (also available for 10+ to adults)
* it’s like a lunch tray
* a percent of sales goes to environmental causes.
But:
* about A$45
* big & a challenge to squeeze into little backpacks
* stickers come off after washing eventually
* recommended for 5 plus because of the single lid – if the child drops the box, the whole lot goes
* once you’re hooked, you’re hooked.
The adult version of the Goodbyn doesn’t have the big lip / ear for easy opening and comes in more sedate colours. It’d be great for taking leftovers to work, be it curry and rice, salad, fruit salad and yoghurt or dip and veggie sticks. Perhaps other stickers would be required for adults. Here’s one I thought of: Think Big, Eat Small. Or, Would You Like Chocolate With That?
Apparently, you can put yoghurt or dip into one compartment, without it spilling into others. This is pretty nifty. In terms of liquid tight seals, the only other brand I currently know and trust is Tupperware (Tuppercare Snack Cups & Everyday Bowls, Fuel Pack & All Day Pack for babes). But, I haven’t seen anything in the configuration of the Goodbyn. Having it all in one, does seem convenient.
I don’t own one (because I’d just been to several Tupperware fundraisers…) but I’ve seen it in action. My niece gets on with her new lunchbox very well and in the end, that’s what matters – making lunches something children look forward to. Everything else is a big bonus. Anything that makes good parenting easier gets my tick of approval.
So, this week, while you’re filling out school book orders for next year and probably wondering how many weeks are left till Christmas, you might want to contact Santa for a Goodbyn stocking filler.
Happy lunching!
Road Test: No mess tomatoes
Yours Truly gets a little bit excited when a product actually lives up to its marketing hype.
Hooray! Truth in advertising ...
I can say that I was hugely impressed with the fact that these tomatoes didn’t turn into sandwich sludge – not even when put in the toasted sandwich maker (aka jaffle maker). They hold firm and seem to last longer than other types of tomatoes, when kept in the specially designed holey plastic bag, in the crisper section of the fridge. The tomatoes cut very easily (even with my perpetually blunt knives), present very well and taste great.
While I don’t personally believe in salad, I’m sure these tomatoes would be great for those who do. They’re not as juicy as other kinds, so they wouldn’t be my first choice for sauces and suchlike. (I’m told, in comments below, that they perform equally well in sauces and cooking.)
No more mushy tomato sandwich nightmares. Enjoy! No Mess Tomatoes, indeed!
UPDATE: I’ve had buckets of people agreeing that these are now their favourite tomatoes! I love a local good-news story. Hats off to Aussie ingenuity.
Theresa Lauf
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The Other Column 
E-books & the death of book stores
With the arrival of e-books, people in publishing are deeply worried about:
A. the survival of brick ‘n mortar book stores; and
B. the future of traditional paper publishing.
What the conversation is missing, is the consumer.
What do consumers want?
Do they want paper books to continue as they are?
Do they want physical book stores?
Do they prefer e-books and e-stores?
Can they continue to have both?
Will they mind waiting longer to get Print On Demand books, instead of just taking something off a shelf?
What about the cost of books and e-devices?
In this post, I’ll focus on the effect of pricing and invite your thoughts.
The price of books & the death of book stores
The price of books in Australia is always a contentious issue. They seem expensive and yet, very few authors can live off their writing and book sellers are bleeding. People in all aspects of publishing live modestly. There’s lots of love, but not a lot of money. Why?
Book shops are diversifying more into gift lines and coffee, since book selling is becoming uneconomic due to:
* on-line selling;
* predatory discounting practices of department stores; and
* e-book retailers because (in Australia) brick ‘n mortar stores aren’t able to sell e-books (why?!).
I’ll briefly touch upon the main players in the price wars.
Parallel importation?
Over a year ago, book sellers, led by Dymocks, thought that parallel importation would save them. The New Zealand uptake of that policy proved disastrous. You can’t have eggs without chickens. Killing local publishing to save local book selling is at best, wonky thinking.
Predatory pricing
Big department stores sell books cheaper because they demand around 70 per cent off from the publishers, and they use cheap books to lure more people into the store to spend money on other things (to offset the discount). This dynamic works for consumers until the competition is killed off, then prices go up and choice goes out the door. It’s not competition; it’s a killing field.
GST
In Australia, GST is applied to all stages of a book’s production. No government has been open to dropping it. Economists tell me it’s because book sellers will apply the GST savings to their own bottom line and not pass it on to consumers.
So the choice is: GST revenue to the government to churn and burn, or leave it in the industry so that more businesses can keep their doors open (and possibly, pass on price reductions to consumers in the line of normal competition?). Frankly, I would’ve thought that an “Education Revolution” (to use a Labor Party slogan) might’ve included books.
E-books will be the final blow to Aussie book stores, unless…
E-books are currently retailing around $9.99 on Amazon and according to Michael Hyatt, there’s no likelihood that prices will sustainably drop below that point. E-publishing and e-distribution, perhaps surprisingly, doesn’t deliver big cost savings.
I think that once publishers work out all the other funky things they can do in the e-world, prices will eventually go up because they’ll be producing more on-line content to sell their books. Publishers will rise from the ashes of burned out book stores insofar as they’ll be selling directly to online consumers.
In America, e-books are rapidly gaining popularity. The Aussie uptake has been slow and the publishing industry has been reluctant to respond to the new paradigm. Australia doesn’t have the population to shoulder massive market changes as readily. That being said, we can’t put it off any longer.
Conclusion
So, what will e-books do to the price of books in Australia? Not much, it seems, unless the government removes the GST from the equation and revises competition law. With the GST in place, more people will shop on-line to avoid it and brick ‘n mortar book stores in Australia will continue their rapid decline in the face of anti-competitive practices by bigger players.
People will go to book shops to have coffee, browse inside books and then purchase them (either in paper or electronic format) elsewhere, online. That’s not a sustainable business model. Book sellers had better come up with something new, quickly, to value-add to the experience of loving books.
While $9.99 for an e-book is up to half the price of a traditional book, you have to buy the e-reader as well. And even though they are coming down in price, will you be buying one for your kids this Christmas? They aren’t so forgiving when dropped. And how many e-books do you have to buy to make up the savings as against the cost of the device?
I’m not against e-books. I’m not advocating for them, either. I love what’s inside books and where those books take me. People should have a choice. I just hope that the Australian government and industry get the balance right, before our favourite book shops bleed out.
QUESTION:
What do you wish you could tell the government or publishing industry in Australia? Do you think book shops will survive?
N.B. I encourage all respectful views. Feel free to disagree, without being disagreeable. No-one has all of the answers. Sharing is caring.